IN THE LOOP. SIDEWALKS.

Sole man

Altman's Men's Shoes and Boots has all manner of famous clients from the worlds of politics, show business, big business and sports. But owner Marty Altman will not tell you who they are.

"These aren't customers. They aren't clients," he says. "They are friends, and I don't throw around my friends' names."

That is one aspect of the old-school philosophy of the store, where Altman has 45,000, more or less, pairs of shoes available for your walking pleasure. You will see only a few hundred of them on the shelves in Altman's cozy little shop at 120 W. Monroe St. The rest are buried, so to speak, in 22 (or was that 23?) storage spaces below street level.

In this era of fast shopping, discount deals and know-nothing salespeople, Altman's thrives as a reminder of personalized service and whatever-you-need-we've-got inventory.

"I remember going to shop for clothes when I was a kid, and the clothes would be piled on tables as high as the ceiling," he says. "You could find whatever you wanted, whatever size you needed."

Altman aims to please, whether by having salespeople who know what they are talking about or by having sizes that fit, well, just about anybody.

"5 AAAA to 20 EEEE, those are the sizes we carry," Altman says. "And maybe 50 different brands. There are very few places with that sort of inventory. But that's how we compete with the big guys."

He has been at this location for more than three decades and in the shoe business almost his entire life. His father, Jack, opened a full-service store-for men, women and kids-at Madison Street and Cicero Avenue in 1932. He grew up in the Austin neighborhood and started working in earnest at 14, after his father's death. He was in the shoe business with a brother and brother-in-law-the West Side store closed in 1967-before going it alone in the Loop.

He is at the store every day, often with his daughter Jackie Delott, who does bookkeeping and marketing.

"Of course it's still fun, or I wouldn't be here," says Altman who turns 72 in November and is seen in the mirror in Osgood's photo. "It keeps the mind sharp and the blood flowing."